The largest, least-protected places on our blue planet are found in the high seas - the open ocean and deep seabed that lie seaward of individual nations’ jurisdictions. Extending from the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica to most of the Indian, Pacific, Atlantic and Arctic Oceans and the Mediterranean Sea, these areas cover 45% of the Earth’s surface. Hidden beneath the surface of the high seas are extraordinary places that are in urgent need of our protection. Belonging to no single nation,
they have been, for too long, neglected by all. …